🎙 Briefing by Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (October 2, 2024)

🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s schedule
🔹 Developments in the Middle East
🔹 Kiev regime crimes
🔹 Ukrainian Armed Forces’ links with terrorist organisations
🔹 Situation in Moldova
🔹 US military build-up in the Asia-Pacific region
🔹 Russian chairmanship in BRICS
🔹 75 years of Russia-China diplomatic relations
🔹 Ministerial Conference of the #RussiaAfrica Partnership in Sochi
🔹 FM Sergey Lavrov’s article about post-war partition of Germany and Austria

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#Ukraine #KievRegimeCrimes

People who came to the temporary accommodation centre in Kursk told journalists about the first days of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ invasion of the Kursk Region, including the large number of civilian casualties.

According to eyewitnesses, the Ukrainians warned the residents that if they did not leave, then “foreign mercenaries would come and leave no one alive.” Sudzha resident Vladimir Maltsev said: “Georgians, Poles, Frenchmen – all these mercenaries – were exterminating people like cockroaches,” and “a lot of women were killed, abused, and raped.”

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Kiev regime does not hide its links with terrorist groups around the world and, in particular, on the African continent and in the Middle East. The international community’s attention has been drawn to this more than once. In this regard, we note that an increasing number of states become aware of the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime.

We believe that this practice of criminal cooperation between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the international terrorist international is absolutely unacceptable. We will continue to fight this evil spirit by all available means, regardless of where it appears

#RussiaChina

Today, the relations between Russia and China are at their all-time high, and the effort to further reinforce them meets the long-term development goals of the two countries. This is a steady and lasting trend.

On the international stage, Russia and China have been acting in tandem and emerged as a major factor of stability. The two countries are committed to do even more to coordinate their actions in order to fast-track the emergence of a democratic multipolar world order with greater justice for all, empowering all countries to have a say on global governance matters, ensuring equal and indivisible security, and rejecting confrontation and conflict.

#BRICS

In our work, we primarily strive to stand up to the challenges and threats of our time, and find collective solutions to the global challenges of international development. Specifically, we focus on a wider use of national currencies, joint payment instruments and platforms in mutual trade transactions.

Our combined efforts are aimed at promoting and building an interconnected and interdependent international system on a non-aligned and non-hegemonic basis, which would give precedence to such common priorities as economic growth, poverty alleviation, food, climate and water security, combating international terrorism, extremism, and organised crime, etc.

🎙Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Newsweek magazine (October 7, 2024)

❓Question: As the Ukraine conflict continues, how different is Russia's position than in 2022 and how are the costs of conflict being weighed against the progress made toward strategic objectives?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Our position is widely known and remains unchanged. Russia is open to a politico-diplomatic settlement that should remove the root causes of the crisis.

It should aim to end the conflict rather than achieve a ceasefire. The West should stop supplying weapons, and Kiev should end the hostilities.

👉 Ukraine should return to its neutral, non-bloc and non-nuclear status, protect the Russian language, and respect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

<...>

On 14 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin listed prerequisites for the settlement as follows: complete AFU withdrawal from the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson Oblasts; recognition of territorial realities as enshrined in the Russian Constitution; neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear status for Ukraine; its demilitarization and denazification; securing the rights, freedoms and interests of Russian-speaking citizens; and removal of all sanctions against Russia.

Kiev responded to this statement by an armed incursion into the Kursk Oblast on 6 August. Its patrons – the US and other NATO countries – seek to inflict a «strategic defeat» on Russia. Under the circumstances, we have no choice but to continue our special military operation until the threats posed by Ukraine are removed. <...>

❓Question: How likely do you think it is that a military or diplomatic solution can be achieved, or do you see a greater risk of the conflict spiraling into something even larger with Ukrainian forces receiving more advanced NATO weaponry and entering Russian territory?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Making guesses is not my job. What I want to say is that we have been trying to extinguish this crisis for more than a decade, yet each time we put to paper agreements that suite everyone, Kiev and its masters would backpedal. <...>

At present, as far as we can see, restoring peace is not part of our adversary's plan. Zelensky has not revoked his decree banning negotiations with Moscow. Washington and its NATO allies provide political, military and financial support to Kiev so that the war would go on. They are discussing authorizing the AFU to use Western long-range missiles to strike deep into Russian territory. "Playing with fire" in this way may lead to dangerous consequences. As stated by President Putin, we will take adequate decisions based on our understanding of the threats posed by the West. It is up to you to make conclusions.

❓Question: What concrete plans does Russia have in line with its strategic partnerships with China and other powers to achieve changes in the current world order and how do you expect these ambitions to play out in areas of intense competition and conflict, including the Middle East?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: What we have in mind is that the world order needs be adjusted to the current realities. Today the world is living through the "multipolar moment". Shifting towards the multi-polar world order is a natural part of power rebalancing, which reflects objective changes in the world economy, finance and geopolitics. The West waited longer than the others, yet it has also started to realize that this process is irreversible.

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Multipolarity manifests itself in the increasing role of regional associations, such as the #EAEU, #SCO, #ASEAN, #AfricanUnion, #CELAC and others. #BRICS has become a model of multilateral diplomacy. The #UN should remain a forum for aligning the interests of all the countries.

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#Announcement

🎙 On October 9, approximately at 11.00 am MSK (08.00 am GMT/ 10.00 am CEST/ 04.00 pm Beijing) Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova will hold a briefing on current foreign policy issues.

For accreditation inquiries, please contact the MFA press centre. Accredited journalists will receive detailed explanations on the technical aspects of submitting questions.

The Russia's Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman will answer media questions received by the call centre.

❗️ Accreditation is open until 10:00 am on October 8.

🎙 Excerpt from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Newsweek magazine (October 7, 2024)

❓Question: What impact do you expect the US presidential election to have on Russia-US relations if Donald Trump wins or if Kamala Harris wins and how is Russia preparing for either scenario?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Generally speaking, the outcome of this election makes no difference to us, as the two parties have reached a consensus as to countering Russia. In case there are political changes in the United States and new proposals to us, we will be ready to consider them and decide whether they meet our interests. At all events, we will promote Russia's interests decisively, especially as far as its national security is concerned.

On the whole, it would be natural for the White House resident, no matter who they are, to mind their domestic business, rather than looking for adventures tens of thousands miles away from American coasts. I am confident that US electors think the same.

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🗓 On October 7, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chaired a regular meeting of the #CIS Council of Foreign Ministers held in Moscow.

The Ministers summed up the results of the Commonwealth foreign ministries’ joint work in view of implementing the priorities of the Russian chairmanship in 2024. A wide range of issues related to CIS format interaction were discussed.

Sergey Lavrov informed Russia’s partners about its approaches to the topical international and regional topics, including the developments in the Middle East and the crisis around Ukraine.

📃 Statements by the CIS Foreign Ministers on the principles of cooperation in ensuring security in Eurasia, the unacceptability of using unilateral restrictive measures in international relations, and on cooperation in the field of fitness and sports were adopted. The 2025 schedule of multi-level consultations between the CIS foreign ministries within the Commonwealth was approved. The status of CIS basic institutions has been assigned to a number of Russian and Belarusian institutes and universities specialising in training personnel in mass communications, legal advocacy and volunteer movements, as well as in the field of countering terrorism and extremism.

Most of the documents considered by the ministers will be submitted for approval to the Council of CIS Heads of State on October 8, 2024. These include draft addresses of the CIS Heads of State to the Commonwealth nations and the world community on the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, a 2025-2027 cooperation programme in de-radicalisation, and a decision on determining the cultural capitals of the Commonwealth for the coming three years, among others.

ℹ️ The next meeting of the Council of CIS Foreign Ministers will be held on April 11, 2025 in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on Kiev regime using and planning to use chemical weapons

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Detailed information about the Kiev regime’s mass-scale use of warfare chemical agents in violation of its commitments under the CWC, as well as provocations staged by Kiev and its Western backers to falsely accuse the Russian Armed Forces of similar actions, has been regularly shared with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the UN Security Council, and the UN General Assembly since February 2022.

Despite irrefutable evidence provided by Russia, Ukrainian armed formations continue to use toxic chemicals (chlorine, ammonia, ammonium nitrate, and sulfuric acid) against Russian military units, civilians, and local administration officials. These include substances listed under CWC schedules 2 (BZ) and 3 (chloropicrin) and the RCAs.

This behaviour is enabled by political backing and approval coming from Washington, Berlin, London, and Paris.

Russian experts have documented Ukraine’s violations of
- CWC provisions,
- the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
- the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

Ukrainian armed formations also pose an environmental threat to chemical plants in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Sumy, Kharkov, and Odessa regions.

The "collective West" has created an atmosphere of impunity that emboldens the Kiev regime as it proceeds to perpetrate larger-scale crimes involving toxic chemicals.

⚠️ We have credible information that, with Western support, Ukraine plans to stage a series of anti-Russia provocations in the special military operation zone. Preparations are underway to fabricate evidence to accuse Russia of CWC violations during combat operations.

According to Russian authorities, NATO countries delivered over 70 advanced toxic chemical detection and recording devices to Ukraine between July and September. <...> Simultaneously, Ukrainian security forces have been trained both in Ukraine and at NATO centres in methods of evidence falsification which were earlier used in Syria, the Skripal poisoning, and the alleged poisoning of Alexey Navalny. NATO countries, in part through the OPCW Technical Secretariat, are helping Ukraine build a “body of evidence” to further accuse Russia of CWC violations.

Here are the documents to back this up (available in Russian)

We take it that the fabricated “evidence” cooked up not far from the contact line will, as was previously done in Syria, be swiftly handed over to international experts for a so-called independent report accusing Moscow of chemical weapon use.

The motive behind this campaign is clear. 👉 No international legal standard will stop NATO countries from pursuing their stated goal of achieving a “strategic defeat” for Russia, especially when it involves chemical provocations under false flag, as used for long years in Syria. Moreover, Ukraine’s close ties with Islamist-affiliated terrorist groups and nationalist-extremist groups in the Middle East and Africa underscore the very real threat of “chemical” terrorism coming from Ukrainian special services.

❗️ We caution Washington and its allies against “playing with fire,” so as not to irreparably damage the CWC framework established in 1997.